The present invention relates to systems and methods for collecting animal waste, and more particularly, to systems and methods for removing manure from a floor of barn.
Systems and methods for automatically collecting and disposing of animal waste products are often desired to eliminate the manual labor associated with such tasks. Such automated systems and methods are especially desirable when dealing with a large number of farm animals in an environment where the animal waste cannot be left to naturally degrade.
Prior art systems have been developed to deal with this problem, however, there are a number of drawbacks associated with these prior art systems. For example, plows have been used to push animal waste across a floor to a collection area. Such systems may not work very effectively, however, due to the potentially large volume and weight of animal waste collected against the plow. Other systems have been developed to reduce the load on the plow by diverting the animal waste through an opening into a collection area below the floor. These systems are disadvantageous, however, because they require a very wide opening to avoid clogging of the opening by the animal waste. Such a large opening is not practical on a floor where a large farm animal walks. Additionally, other systems utilize a false floor having many openings or slots to form a grated false floor. Thus, the current animal waste collection systems of which I am aware have one or more drawbacks.
Therefore, new and improved animal waste collection systems are desired to effectively collect and dispose of animal waste.